Write 7 pages thesis on the topic the thought of friendship. Emerson was part of the Transcendentalist movement that was going on during the mid-nineteenth century. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that believed that principles should not be based on sensuous experiences but from the inner mentality and spirituality of the human person. This philosophical thinking was influenced strongly by the German Idealism of Immanuel Kant and Oriental philosophy, which greatly made an impression on Emerson.
Write 7 pages thesis on the topic the thought of friendship. Emerson was part of the Transcendentalist movement that was going on during the mid-nineteenth century. Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that believed that principles should not be based on sensuous experiences but from the inner mentality and spirituality of the human person. This philosophical thinking was influenced strongly by the German Idealism of Immanuel Kant and Oriental philosophy, which greatly made an impression on Emerson.
One particular trait in Emerson’s idea of friendship is the innate goodness of the human spirit in people. Friendship is a positive flowering of the human spirit shared between an individual to another. As Emerson (1841) wrote in his essay on friendship:
The effect of the indulgence of this human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration. In poetry, and in common speech, the emotions of benevolence and complacency which are felt towards others are likened to the material effects of fire. so swift, or much more swift, more active, more cheering, are these fine inward irradiations. From the highest degree of passionate love to the lowest degree of good-will, they make the sweetness of life.
The way Emerson expresses his concept of friendship involves a powerful flow of positive feelings that go beyond the physical understanding of things. This high standard of idealism is the defining mark of friendship, in light of Emerson’s perspective.
However, this point of view is considered highly idealistic. Placing the definition of friendship solely on Emerson’s transcendental idea is lofty at best. The transcendental view of friendship is strongly sentimental with little light on the practical. The poetic and highly romanticized view in Emerson’s essay on friendship paints a beautiful description of how friendship is, speaking on its beauty alone, and less of the useful purpose. .
